KHTS is getting a sneak peek of some of the top haunted houses in Santa Clarita, with the special three-part series kicking off at “Beware the Dark Realm,” set to open Oct. 12.

Known as one of the most popular home haunts in Santa Clarita, Beware the Dark Realm draws thousands of Halloween enthusiasts every year to Sugar Pine Way for an elaborate, medieval-inspired maze inside towering castle walls. 

A preview of the 2019 Beware the Dark Realm haunt. Photo by David Melnarik, KHTS.

“It’s definitely a scary haunt,” said Creator Scott Sivley, who has been hosting haunts since he realized he was too old to trick-or-treat in 1971. “We don’t hold any punches when it comes to trying to scare people, as opposed to other haunts which are very, very child-friendly.”

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Sivley recommends those who dare to enter Beware the Dark Realm’s castle walls be at least 10 years old, though he noted that his reasoning has nothing to do with the graphic blood and gore sometimes seen at other home haunts. 

“You would hardly find any blood and gore in my haunt,” he said. “If you do it right, and I’ve been doing it long enough, you don’t need to use blood and gore to scare people. (Instead), you’re never really sure what’s going to happen. You’re not sure if you’re going to get scared from the left, right, the top, the bottom — where are they going to be coming at you?” 

About 30 volunteers are set to dress up as “terrifying live monsters” and appear unexpectedly throughout the 1200-square-foot maze to scare attendees, with many of the actors bringing years of experience from events like Fright Fest and Knott’s Scary Farm.

It’s likely that Sivley’s own four decades of experience in home haunts brings what reviewers often call a certain level of professionalism to Beware the Dark Realm, which has earned the haunted house in Santa Clarita a number of awards and recognitions over the years. 

A preview of the 2019 Beware the Dark Realm haunt. Photo by David Melnarik, KHTS.

The haunt’s most recent accolade was being voted the 2019 No. 4 “Must See Haunt” in California on TheScareFactor.com out of more than 200 professional and home haunts across the state, according to Sivley. 

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“We’re the only home haunt (to rank) as far as I can see,” he said. “We’re the only home haunt that was even in the top five in the United States. Everybody above us has multi-million dollar companies that spend their money.”

As opposed to commercial haunts backed by well-funded companies, Sivley noted that he uses whatever funds he can generate by selling homemade Halloween items at an annual trade show called Spook Show. 

Though Beware the Dark Realm attendees can buy front-of-the-line passes during the Halloween season for $5, Sivley noted that all proceeds are donated to a local charity, with this year’s organization being the Child & Family Center’s Domestic Violence Program. 

Sivley’s motivation for hosting Beware the Dark Realm year after year is the unique opportunity to put his creativity to good use, and to share his passion with his wife and two sons, both now in their twenties, while they work on the haunt together during the off-season. 

A preview of the 2019 Beware the Dark Realm haunt. Photo by David Melnarik, KHTS.

“For one thing, it’s fun,” Sivley said. “The second thing is that I actually get a chance to be a little creative and build and make things… Most people, you don’t get to be really creative in most of your work. I’m a retired mailman, and so … delivering mail isn’t exactly the most challenging job when it comes to using creativity.” 

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When asked about how many people Sivley is expecting at this year’s Beware the Dark Realm season, he noted that he doesn’t usually do a head count, and instead measures the success of the haunt by the looks on his volunteers’ faces at the end of each night. 

“I judge my haunt at the end of the night when I go in the backyard when everybody’s taking off their costumes … and talking and laughing and having a good time,” he said. “Then I know that it was a successful haunt.” 

Beware the Dark Realm, located at 28621 Sugar Pine Way, is expected to open for the 2019 Halloween season on Saturday, Oct. 12 and run from 7 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 12, 18, 19, 25 and 26. For more information, click here. 

Check back with KHTS throughout the month of October for a sneak peek of two more haunted houses in Santa Clarita during the special three-part Halloween series. 

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